Amritsar hopes to crack ‘smart’ test in 2nd attempt

AMRITSAR: After failing to make it to the first list of 20 smart cities, the Amritsar municipal corporation (AMC) is trying to improvise its vision statement for the second round of the ambitious project, the list for which is to be submitted with the Union ministry of urban development by April 30. The Holy City was ranked 25th in the first list of smart cities which was released by the Centre earlier this year.

Talking to TOI on Wednesday, AMC commissioner Sonali Giri informed, "We are holding a lot of review meetings with the stakeholders and revising our proposals and including whatever new is required."

AMC has received several proposals for its vision document on smart city, which includes installing weight-enabled dustbins to alert the civic body staff when the bins are full and use of digital technology for resolving local issues. Amritsar had cleared the assessment with 60 out of 100 marks.

Ludhiana was the only city that was included in the first list of 20 smart cities from Punjab based on the projects feasibility, cost effectiveness, citizen's participation and smartness of proposals.